Mirror-Blind
by kingfisherwings
Summary: Magnus finds himself wearing a double disguise to help a friend.
1. Chapter 1

Torture comes and torture goes  
Knights who'd give you anything  
They bear the cross of Coeur de Leon  
Salvation for the mirror blind

_Help her. Don't let them do this._

Magnus stared at his phone. He'd checked the number four times since the text arrived. It hadn't stopped being from Joe.

_I AM them, Joseph. Surely you've not forgotten?_

_Fuck that, man. They've got Maia. Were you them when they took her?_

Fucking hell. _Are you certain?_

_They left a note. I give up the title match or they give her to Dixie's scumbag nephew to play with._

_That will NOT happen, Joe. I don't know what else I can guarantee, but he will not put his hands on her._ Magnus could only hope he wasn't promising to stop a thing that was already done.

_I won't forget it._

Either way, Magnus thought. However this came out, Joe wouldn't forget.

He was never quite certain what the score was with Joe and Maia. What most people assumed didn't seem to be the case, at least from what he'd seen, and he'd had occasion to see quite a lot. Joe dismissed any questions with "It's a family thing." Magnus knew family things could be quite complex in Samoan families; he couldn't imagine Maia was related to Joe by blood. By marriage somewhere along the line, more likely. A cousin, maybe.

Whatever she was to Joe, he'd thought the man insane to bring the tiny, shy girl within a thousand miles of the Main Event Mafia, but there she was one day, saying next to nothing, and apparently missing next to nothing, as well. She'd turned out to have the mind of a military strategist and a depth of loyalty to Joe that was a bit astonishing given what didn't seem to be going on between them.

Magnus had tried a few times to strike up a conversation with her, but she was so silent that he'd have wondered if she were mute had he not seen her talking to Joe. A lovely girl, really, but cripplingly shy, and well watched-over by Joe. How whomever Dixie had sent after her had managed to get to her was beyond him.

He could only hope getting her back wouldn't also be beyond him. First things first, though: He had to find her.

* * *

"It's simple enough, Dixie, isn't it? The word is that you have her. I want her. It's not so great a sacrifice if it keeps your champion happy?"

"Oh, I suppose not. Ethan can find something else to keep him entertained. Just keep in mind that if you want to make use of her, you have to keep it quiet. It's not much use to tell Joe that it could happen to her if he finds out it already is happening."

"True enough. Where is she?"

Dixie looked at Magnus as if seeing something new, something she wasn't expecting. "Feeling a little eager?"

"I watched her for four months in MEM. And yes, wanted her as well. Joe kept careful watch over her, but now he's out of my way. There are...many things I'm going to enjoy teaching her."

"Mmm. That might be interesting to watch."

And what would be the dead-last thing he needed? "It's better if she and I discuss her new duties in private. Later, when she's come to accept them..."

"You'd save a couple so I can watch you teach her, wouldn't you?"

This all qualified as more than he ever wanted to know about his boss, no doubt about it. "Naturally. Now..."

Dixie's smile was nasty in two or three ways. She called someone, told them to bring the girl to her office immediately, and hung up abruptly. "Fifteen minutes. Would you like something? Tea?"

"Thank you." Might as well; it would pass the time, and maybe keep Dixie from further exploring her interest in voyeurism. He'd had more than enough of that.

When they brought Maia in, Spud clutching one of her arms and some bruiser Magnus didn't recognize the other, there was no mistaking the look in her eyes when she spotted him. Hope. Just that, and it was gone a moment later. That stung more than he would have imagined.

She didn't look like she'd been hurt as far as he could see superficially: No bruises visible, clothing not torn. He'd find out for certain later; his priority now was getting her out of here before anyone changed their mind about any part of this.

He waited until he was certain they were out of everyone's earshot. "You're safe now."

She looked at him as if the words that had left his mouth had actually been, "You're a church bell now." He took the opportunity to get her in the car without the debate he suspected he was in for sooner or later.

Half the ride proceeded in dead and awkward silence. He was about to turn on the radio to do something, anything about it when she spoke, almost too softly to hear. "Thank you."

"You've sorted it out, then. Good. Are you all right? Did they hurt you?"

"Just pushing-around stuff. And some threats. That's all."

He nodded. "I don't know how far you've worked it out just yet..."

"I can't leave. Not until it's all played itself out."

She'd gotten further along than he'd expected. It would be good to remember that tactical mind of hers.

She hesitated at the door of his hotel room, but he knew she must have grasped that part of the picture already, as well. Where else would he take her?

He dug out his phone and handed it to her. "Call Joe and tell him you're all right. I doubt he'd believe me."

He did the best he could to give her some privacy for the call. Eventually she rapped on the balcony door, slid it open, and handed him the phone. "He wants to talk to you."

Also expected. Joe wasn't happy to hear she couldn't go straight home, but he understood why. He also understood that like it or not, they were in collusion now. They were going to have to sort out what to do about it very soon.

Maia was tucked up in a chair he already knew was lumpy and uncomfortable, eyeing him narrowly when he came back in. "Do you really think you can do this? Alone?"

_Bloody hell. Well, that was next, wasn't it?_ "Do what, exactly?"

"Take them down from the inside. Don't tell me it's not what you're doing."

One day he was going to sit down and sort out how her brain worked once and for all. "Yes, I believe I can. They're arrogant, Maia. So certain they have their hands on the wheel. You wouldn't credit just how much. That's what's going to ruin them. Does anyone else know?"

"Not that I know about. I just figured it out for sure myself. Nothing else makes sense." She looked away suddenly, as if her shoes had become very interesting. "You don't have to do this alone."

"No. It's dangerous for you here."

"Not if you're looking out for me. Tell them you're keeping me." Her head snapped up; her eyes were blazing. "That's it. The way out of the loop we're backed into."

So she'd realized that, as well. It struck him before she finished the last sentence. "Joe refuses to give up his title shot. They miscalculated."

"And you keep your sex toy."

He winced a little at that. "There really is no credible way I can send you home, is there?"

"No. Not unless you tell them you're bored with me."

"That's no guarantee they'll let you leave here. Dixie intended you for her nephew."

"Oh." She paled a bit. "So, plaything it is. And you don't have to carry this on your back all alone any more." She sighed. "We can't tell anyone. Not even Joe. Shit."

He watched her blush furiously over the escaped word. "No. I'd just as soon not have to depend on anyone else's acting skills. Can I depend on yours?"

"Yes. And there's no reason they have to see much of me at all, is there?"

There wasn't, really. Word put out that she wasn't going to be out of his sight until he'd broken her to his will would be enough for a while. Dodging Joe when that got around would be another problem entirely.


	2. Chapter 2

It was two weeks before Magnus believed Maia really trusted him. He didn't take it personally; she wouldn't have been likely to trust anyone in the situation they found themselves in.

He was surprised and a bit unnerved to find how quickly he'd grown to first like and then depend on her company. He'd convinced himself that it didn't matter that he loathed everyone around him, but that wasn't much more than a convenient lie. Having someone at hand to talk to, someone he didn't have to play his role with, was like a pressure-release valve, or one of those alarming gravel pits on steep highways to stop runaway eighteen-wheelers.

He did like her, of that he had no doubt. She wasn't chatty even at her most energetic, but she came to talk to him more as she came to trust him more, and she had a rather sideways sense of humor that pleased him. He quickly began looking forward to dinner as the best part of his day. They'd soon found that the way to ensure themselves of privacy was to find someplace expensive and ask for a corner table. That led to one of the more odd days of his life.

"I need to go buy some clothes." She'd been fretting over the very limited contents of her travel bag for a while. They'd gotten that back, but it was all she had; they'd been unable to come up with an even slightly plausible excuse for her to go home and pack up more things. "I'm sick up to my neck of being underdressed every night."

He wasn't sure where her money was coming from - Joe, he suspected - but she had some; she'd never had to ask him for any, though he'd have given it gladly in the spirit of it being the least he could do. The problem was her going out alone; it was too soon, and they both knew it. No one sane would believe she wouldn't run away given that kind of opportunity. Which left one solution: He took her shopping.

That was how he'd found himself sat in a boutique, cup of appallingly weak tea in hand, watching an array of clothing marched by for his approval. The shop girls apparently had decided if Maia wasn't going to model what they brought her, they'd give him first refusal on everything. It was all a bit lost on him, but he did see one thing he made sure they brought her: a dress of some soft material he couldn't guess at, printed in muted colors like a peacock's tail, with what had to be fifty tiny buttons down the front.

They had to half-push her out the dressing room door, but it was worth the wait and all their efforts. "Wear that tonight."

She'd gave him a look he couldn't quite read, but when they'd gotten ready for dinner, she'd worn the dress without comment. It hadn't occurred to him until hours later what being told to dress to please him must sound like to her. He hadn't done it again since, but was pleased that she did wear the dress again.

She was wearing it tonight. A couple of glasses of wine had loosened her tongue a bit, too, and raised a touch of color in her cheeks. He liked the effects of both. "Explain something to me? What exactly is the thing with you and Joe? I've never quite worked that out."

"Not much family resemblance, is there?" She looked amused. "I'm adopted."

"How did that come about? You didn't lose your family...?"

"No, nothing like that. Not exactly."

Hesitation was clear on her face. He waited.

"I traveled a lot after I got out of college. Drifted, I guess. I drifted up against his family and got taken in. Nothing with paperwork, but that doesn't matter so much. If someone says you're family, you are. Someone in my case was his great-uncle. So we're cousins, more or less."

Odd, maybe, but simple enough, he supposed. "And what does 'not exactly' losing your family mean?"

"I haven't seen or spoken to any of them in five years. No, six now. They...they think I'm some kind of monster."

"No, the Abyss mask wouldn't flatter you in the slightest."

She smiled, but it was edged with sadness. "When I took up game theory in school, my family kind of freaked out."

Well, he thought, that explained a lot.

"They thought I was analyzing them all the time, making numbers out of everybody. But you _can't_ do that, that's one of the first things you learn. Game theory functions in a perfect system. People don't."

"But it's people playing the games."

"Not in a system, it isn't. Not really. They're there as figures, Player A and Player B, not Bill and Fred. It's like...if you have two people playing poker and both playing to win, certain things are going to happen. Certain hands will come out, the lead will change hands in particular patterns. You can predict it to a point. That's why people can play the odds in poker."

"But not everyone does."

"Most people don't, not entirely. They follow hunches, they take risks, they read tells. Say you add a kid to the game, and the adults start playing to lose some hands. Systems don't do that. People do. They do nice things just because they're nice, or mean things that don't make good sense."

He was a little stunned. It was by far the most she'd ever said to him, and she was absolutely lit up in saying it. "But life isn't poker."

"In a lot of ways, it is. You could call any interaction between people who want different outcomes a game. You're playing one with the boss."

"And can you tell me if I'm going to win?"

"Not for sure. There's too much people-stuff in it. The system isn't reliable. But I don't think you're doomed to lose, not by a long way. Even if you've done some unwise human tampering with the system yourself."

"Have I?"

"Helping me was a huge risk. It still is. I'm the most likely route to them figuring out you're not playing straight with them." Her smile was much less wobbly this time. "That or you just finally blowing your stack and mauling some people."

They'd found a routine, odd as it was. He did his best to find a private moment to change their room to a double so they could each have a bed. When that wasn't possible, what she laughingly called the Covers Rule applied: He slept on top of them, and she slept underneath. She was quite a sound sleeper, and he was grateful for that. He'd already awakened several times to find that he'd moved toward her warmth in the night; he made sure there was polite distance between them before she woke.

Just the one time...He'd awakened with her snuggled tightly against him, even with the covers in the way. He'd taken to sleeping in a pair of track pants, but shirtless; her breath on his chest, a warm, humid caress, was enough to drive him to the shower a couple of hours early. An absolutely clear image of him peeling back the blankets and turning her under him had played on the back of his eyeballs all day. But he'd promised, and she trusted him. Not to mention showing no sign at all of wanting him to do that.

She didn't seem perturbed by spending most of every day in a hotel room. She kept up a stack of books, which to his great amusement she read three or four at a whack, and that kept her entertained as far as he could tell. He'd taken to bringing her back odd bookmarks from everywhere he could find them.

It all worked fine, if a bit askew, right up until Joe burst into the room behind him one afternoon.

"Get your stuff, Maia. We're leaving."

_Oh, bloody hell._ "Get out. She stays."

"Yeah, I was hoping you'd try to stop us. Come on."

Maia was up and between them in an instant. "Magnus, let me talk to him. Please. I should have done it already."

He left the room and paced up and down the hallway. He could only depend on her knowing what she could and couldn't say. What she couldn't was likely to make this a bad time for her.

"Joe, I'm staying. You shouldn't have come here."

"You're _what_?"

"I'm staying here. With him."

She saw his glance at the bed, which was in its usual state of pre-housekeeping chaos. And of course it had been a one-bed night, too. _Oh, hell_.

"He must be doing something right. Guess I know what it is. He's using you, Maia. Doesn't that matter to you at all? Being his handy piece of ass?"

"He's been nothing but kind to me. It's all right, I don't expect you to understand. But I'm staying."

"With someone who betrayed all of us. What do you think that makes you?"

"What I think about that doesn't really matter, does it? You've already decided."

"And if I decide to just drag your stupid, naive ass out of here right now?"

"He'll stop you. But he wouldn't if I left here with you willingly. Try to think about that when you stop being mad." It was the most she dared to say.

"You little idiot. Got caught up in an accent and some smooth manners, didn't you? All right. I won't force you to do anything; I never will. That's more than you can say for him, isn't it?" He turned and stormed out the door before she could answer.

He almost plowed straight into Magnus, who was on his fourteenth circuit up and down the hall.

"You son of a bitch. I should have known this is how you keep your promises. It's how you've kept every other one. I ought to rip your nuts off."

Not an unexpected response, but one he'd prefer to avoid, all in all. "Ethan never touched her, Joe. That's all I promised, and I kept that. None of them hurt her, and neither am I. What she's doing for me, she does willingly." Which was true, as far as it went. "She doesn't want to leave here, does she?"

"Proud of that? That you broke her that bad? I won't force her. She's had enough of that, hasn't she? But we're not done with this yet. Not even close. You get a pass this time for her sake. It's the last one." Joe stalked away. Magnus could see his hands shaking. To lock around his throat, no doubt.

He found Maia standing in front of the window, her back to the room, shoulders slumped and shaking. She was crying, or trying with all her might not to. _Who broke her, Joe? Christ._ He didn't think hard about it, just moved up behind her and rested his hands on her shoulders.

She flinched - damn near cringed. "Magnus, just...don't. Leave me alone for a little while, okay?"

He backed away; it was automatic. He'd forced nothing else on her, and he wouldn't this, either.

_Force what on her? Comfort? What any friend would do without hesitation?_ That was madness. He took the two steps back toward her and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her back against him. "You don't have to be alone, either, you know."

At first it was like holding a bundle of twigs and wires. Then all the fight seemed to leave her at once and she slumped against his arms. He turned her to him as the storm broke and she was racked by sobs.

"It'll be all right, then. He's angry. And a bit frightened for you, I'd wager. Which just makes him more angry. Maybe you should have gone with him, Maia."

She shook her head against his chest.

"Stubborn." He wanted to kiss her, to touch her in the ways that would soothe her, to take her to bed and love away the hurt. But how would that not make this worse? He had no business even thinking it. She had to depend on him now more than ever.


	3. Chapter 3

Magnus already hadn't been looking forward to his match with a thoroughly pissed-off Joe. Now Joe had murder in his eyes, and good reason, or at least so he thought, to have it there.

In a strange way, what Joe thought he'd discovered had worked in their favor until now. All bets were off; they didn't have to come up with some elaborate rationalization for Joe's refusing to give up the title shot, or for Maia staying. Magnus had simply told Dixie that Joe had barged in, seen the solitary and unmade bed, and that was that. The gambit had failed, and now that it had, he intended to keep his new toy. Now there was a price to pay for that convenience.

He didn't think Maia was really disappointed when he told her to stay in the hotel the night of the pay-per-view. She didn't seem all that anxious to watch what was going to happen, and she was aware as he was that she wasn't safe at the arena. He'd handed her his key-card at the door on his way out, just to be sure; bags had a way of getting rifled through in the locker room if someone wanted something in particular.

The way he saw it, he had two options: Try to end the match quickly, or hold the line and wait for the promised interference to come. It grated on him, as it had right along, to depend on others to do his work for him. It was the most sure way to keep them convinced he was dependent on them, but he hated every moment of it; quite simply, it galled at his pride. And the longer the match went on, the more likely Joe was to snap and just start mauling him. The man wanted the title, but his temper was sure to get the best of him unless it ended quickly. Tonight, he was in a fight and had to approach it as if he were entirely on his own. That didn't exactly displease him.

He went back to the hotel with all his goals accomplished - match won, title in hand, still breathing, and looking as if he'd desperately needed Dixie's troops when they arrived. He did feel a bit as if he'd managed to win all the battles and still lose the war. His pride stung, and his body ached. Joe had skipped the preliminaries and started out the match clearly wanting to taste blood.

_I gave him some of his own to sample as well as mine, at least_, Magnus thought. He fumbled at the door for his key-card before he remembered, and rapped on the door. "It's me, Maia. Open up."

She looked strained. He could only assume she'd broken down and ordered the pay-per-view after all. "I'm fine, flower. Joe is as well, I think. A long, hot shower would be in order, but it's done and everyone lived. Don't fret."

She looked at him as if to say she intended to bloody well fret if she wanted to, and he could just keep his advice to himself. He stifled a smile that quickly turned to a look of wonder as she went and started the shower for him.

He dropped his bag on the bed and sat down with a small groan. Yes, everything was going to hurt tomorrow, shower or no shower. He still wanted it, though, and Maia was taking her time. "What are you doing in there, heating the water by the bucketful?"

Her response was a soft _whump_ of something hitting the wall opposite the bathroom door. It took him about ten seconds to process that it was her clothes. It took another five to process what that meant.

Opening the door let out a blast of steam that instantly stuck his clothes to him. He couldn't see a thing. "Maia?"

The door shut behind him. He turned, his eyes finally adjusting to the conditions.

She looked delicate at best; naked, she looked positively fragile. She was far from acting that part, though. She pressed eagerly against him and started working on the buttons of his shirt. He wasn't inclined to stop her, but...

"Well, then. What's brought this on?"

She shook her head and kept at the buttons.

"All right, then. You're certain?" It seemed like a foolish question, but this had certainly come out of left field. Of a ballpark in another city.

She pushed aside the cloth of his shirt as far as she'd gotten it open and fastened onto his chest, sucking and nipping at his skin. She was certain. He caught her head in his hands, cupping her face and tilting it up to his for a kiss that she returned with frank eagerness. Maybe she'd had her shyness surgically removed while he was gone. Or maybe she'd had enough of hiding behind it. There was one sure way to find out.

He pushed her gently back from him, lingering over the sight of her for a few seconds before sliding his hand between her thighs. They parted like water, and he slipped two fingers into her, relishing the shiver that passed through her top to toe. He'd thought it might be hard to tell, bathed in humidity as they were, but there was no doubt: She wasn't just certain. She was ready for him.

He scooped her up and put her in the shower and made quick work of shedding his clothes. She wasn't the only one ready now; he'd felt how tight she was around his fingers, and that had finished the job her burst of seductiveness had started. He barely got the shower door shut behind him before she was on her knees and drawing the head of his cock into her mouth.

"Maia, you don't - "

She dug her fingernails into his thighs: _Shut up and let me_. He leaned against the back wall of the shower and wondered if someone had finally stumbled on a working aphrodisiac as she took half of him down her throat in a gulp.

He let her have her way, for a while at least. He didn't intend this unexpected awakening of hers to end with a couple of swallows, though she seemed to be enjoying this as much as he was. She'd struggled a bit to take all of him, but once she'd managed the first time, she kept on with an urgency that was nearly as much pleasure as the act itself, her hands on his stomach, fingers tracing the ridges of his abs. It took considerable will to lift her to her feet, all the more so when she let out a frustrated, protesting cry.

"Is it really what you had in mind when you started shedding your clothes, flower? That, you could have done dressed." He lifted her into place for him, bracing her shoulders against the shower wall and canting her hips toward him. A hundred pounds soaking wet. Literally. "I don't know what's gotten into you, but I do know what's about to. You want it, do you?"

She settled into the cradle of his arms and brought her legs up snug against his hips. She nodded fiercely, eyes blazing at him.

"Say it. Tell me what you want."

"Fuck me, Magnus. Hard, do it hard."

He'd intended to be gentle with her. That ended it. He braced his feet, leg muscles locked, and drove into her. Even with that he only got half of him into her, to the sound of a cry that was half shriek and half moan. He pulled back a little and went again; this time she took it all, and her cry was all moan.

His intention to linger over this was lost in how good it felt, and in her obvious need to be taken. They could negotiate it another time. Right now, this.

Her first orgasm rose quickly to his driving thrusts, and she somehow tightened more around him. He answered by thrusting harder still, pounding her hips back into the shower wall with each one. Her sounds were soft after her initial cries at being so roughly penetrated: Moans, gasps, sounds that were parts of words or no words at all. He started trying to force louder cries from her; it felt like a challenge somehow. The third time she came he gave in to the sensation of it and drove deep, seeding the tight, hot furrow he'd plowed.

Her legs buckled when he let her down onto her feet. He reached back and flicked the now decidedly lukewarm shower off, then wrapped her in a towel and carried her to bed. There were two tonight, but only one was going to see any use. He was even looking forward to a night _under_ the covers for a change.


	4. Chapter 4

Any concern Magnus had that Maia might think better of her impulsive behavior vanished quickly. She still wouldn't talk about why it had happened; when he tried to raise the question, she found a way to distract him. She could be very distracting when she chose to be.

It troubled him a little that she clearly preferred him to be aggressive with her, and even quite rough. She eagerly let him do whatever he wanted, though, and as much as he wanted. That turned out to be quite a lot; his appetite was spiking hard, and she met him halfway at every turn, when she wasn't instigating it herself.

It made him careless, he realized later. It was easy to forget they weren't in their own naked little world.

But he had the boss to remind him.

Being called to Dixie's office for a private meeting was unexpected, but hardly unprecedented. He started waiting for the hammer to drop when it was clear that all of what she was saying could easily have waited.

"Well, that's business. And how's pleasure going?"

_Oh, grand._ "Quite well, thank you. She's a bit stubborn, but she is learning."

"You promised me something. Or did you forget?"

"I remember. But she hasn't been ready for a public demonstration. She still isn't quite."

"I don't mind if she needs a little correction along the way. I'll bet you're _very_ strict, aren't you? Bring her here tomorrow."

And that was how the fencing over it ended. There was no way to fence with a direct order.

He thought about it all the way back to the hotel; it was a wonder he didn't manage to put the car up a tree. But he'd decided by the time he got to the room. Fencing might not be possible; disobeying was.

"You have to go home. Today. Now. This minute."

All Maia could do was stare as Magnus threw everything of hers he could find into a travel bag.

"Help me, woman! Find the rest of your things. There isn't time for this."

She walked over and took his hands, keeping him from stuffing anything else into the overloaded bag. "Stop it, Magnus. What's wrong?"

He shook his head. "Just once, just for variety's sake, do as I say."

"Something happened. What did she say to you?"

He groaned and pushed the bag aside so he could sit on the edge of the bed; she might be delightfully submissive in it, but she was every bit her own woman out of it. She wasn't going to march just because he was issuing orders to. "She wants...ah, fucking hell...She wants to _watch_." He'd never wanted so much to crawl in and pull the covers over his head.

"She wants to watch you rape me, in so many words."

"So it seems. And you knew she has that kink because...?"

"She still thinks I'm here against my will, right? And I can't imagine she wants to watch you read poetry to me while I braid flowers in your hair."

For a moment the image was overwhelming enough to throw him entirely off track.

"And if I pull a vanishing act now, don't you think she'll know why? The game's up the moment they realize I'm gone. So we have to go through with it. That's that."

"That is _not_ that." He reached out and ran his fingertips through her hair, pushing a fan of it back from her face. "I can't do this, Maia. I won't."

"You will. You have to convince her you're hurting me, enjoying it, and planning to do it again very soon, or she's going to start wondering about a whole lot of other things. And that means you have to be the good soldier."

She was right. They were backed into a corner. "Christ, I'm sorry. I did all I could to put this off. I can't imagine you believe that, but it's so."

"I do believe it. Do you really think I don't know you could have done anything you wanted to me any time in the past two months? Or that I didn't know it when I decided to stay? You never did a thing I didn't want. And now we have to do something neither of us wants." She sat beside him, leaning against his shoulder. "Have you considered this might not be all about her being a sociopath?"

He nodded. "It's a test, at least in part. I'm sure of that."

"Should I skip the jokes about cramming for it?" She smiled at the look on his face. "Probably so, huh?" She traced a fingertip along the cleft in his chin the stubble so thoroughly hid. "It's with you. I'll be all right. She could have come up with something a lot worse."

That was what troubled him the most: Eventually, she probably would.

* * *

They'd had the most bizarre possible rational discussion of what Dixie probably expected: Maia frightened into submission for the most part, and him enjoying slapping down any defiance.

She'd done fine at looking terrified - and it surely wasn't entirely an act - and at putting up a fierce but brief struggle when they'd been ordered over to the desk so Dixie could see better.

But he still didn't want to do this, and that was creating a bit of a problem, one Maia was going to have to solve. She fought a little when he pushed her to her knees, but he thought she understood. He was sure when she looked up at him from her spot at his feet, glaring.

He slapped her. He pulled it at the end, but she acted like he'd smacked her as hard as he could, snapping her head around with a choked cry of pain, then trembling as she unzipped him, took out his cock, and sucked it - with visible reluctance at first, but more enthusiastically when he raised his hand to her again.

And God forgive him, it felt so good. He wanted to close his eyes and let her go to work on him; in spite of her show of reluctance, he knew well that she loved doing it. And she was mind-bendingly good at it. It didn't take her long to make his body stop defying what had to be done.

"God, she's a little whore for it, isn't she? Why did you even bother fighting it, slut? You love sucking your master's big cock, don't you?"

He cringed a little at the sound of Dixie's voice and choice of words, but it was a needed reminder that they weren't alone. He grabbed Maia's hair and started thrusting. By the third, he was giving her all of it. She choked a little, but stayed as she was, hands behind her back, submitting to it.

"Fuck her now. Over the desk."

Maia put up another brief struggle when he bent her over the desk, but he stopped her by lifting her up and slamming her down on it again. He did it as gently as he could afford to with Dixie a foot away and watching avidly; it was at least a little better than hitting her again.

He'd told Maia to wear a fairly short skirt, but as he pushed it up over her hips, he saw she'd gone one better; she'd worn nothing under it.

"Ooh. Do you keep her like that all the time?"

"When we go out. I prefer to keep her naked in private. It's a good reminder of what she's for." He wedged his knee between her legs, forcing them open. Maia put up brief resistance, then submitted again, spreading for him. She was trembling when he moved in and grasped her hips; he couldn't tell if it was fear or something else entirely. He shoved her roughly up against the edge of the desk and drove into her. He was stunned by what he felt; she was wet, ready for it. He still couldn't get himself all the way in with the first thrust. He did with the second.

Maia yelped, twisting in his hands. "That hurts! Please, you're hurting me, stop it!"

He pinned her to the desk and started driving into her. "You know what happens when you defy me. Shut up and take your punishment."

She kept up a stream of choked cries of pain and stammered apologies for her behavior as he slammed into her. When it turned to her usual softer sounds of pleasure, it seemed to be the right final touch, unintentional as it was.

"All that complaining, and look at her! You love it, don't you, slut? Are you bad just so your master will punish you?" Dixie laughed and gave Maia another slap, hard enough to leave a bright-red mark on her cheek. Magnus was a heartbeat away from picking the woman up and throwing her against a wall, boss or not. And again Maia saved the whole farce, this time by tensing muscles deep inside her, then releasing, over and over in a rhythm that drove him over the edge in spite of his rage. He fell across her, pinning her to the desk as he came deep in her, covering her with his body as well, guarding her while he was too vulnerable to do it any other way.

He was sure Maia hadn't had an orgasm, but there was a dazed and sleepy look in her eyes as he raised her to her feet; she was nearly out of it. He muttered some answer to Dixie's order to bring her back next week, and when Maia's first few steps were more of a lurching stagger, he scooped her up and carried her to the car. As far away, as fast as possible was the only thought his mind seemed to want to hold right now.


	5. Chapter 5

Halfway through the ride back to the hotel, Maia surfaced from the daze she'd been in. Impossibly, the first thing she did was smile at him.

The second thing she did was slide across to him and start unbuttoning his shirt. And then kissing and nipping. He didn't know how she could not be furious with him, but obviously she wasn't.

She very nearly brightened the day of whoever watched the security camera in the hotel elevator, as well. Not to mention his own. He had to nearly carry her in the room. He had no idea how to tell her that the last thing he wanted right now was to be serviced that way.

It was easier to let her have her way than to tell her, but it didn't take long for her to sort out that it wasn't having the usual results. And now the look he'd dreaded seeing was in her eyes - hurt, wary, ashamed. She moved to the far corner of the bed. "It's all right. I understand."

"No, I'm certain you don't. Come here."

"You don't have to pretend. Please don't."

"Pretend what? Christ, Maia, we're having two different conversations here. Slow down."

"I tried to hide it. I did, I really did."

_So it's finally come._ "You liked it. I know."

"She's right. Joe, too. And now you know what I am, too."

"Yes, I do. You're the victim of something I should never have allowed to happen to you. You're also quite the submissive. Neither is anything to be ashamed of, flower. Come here and talk to me now."

She did. She wouldn't look him in the eye, but she at least moved up next to him.

"Did you like doing it in front of her?"

"No."

"Did you like her hitting you?"

"_No_." She nearly spit the word out; he was glad to hear it.

"That leaves what I was doing to you. You liked that?"

She nodded, misery creeping back into her face.

"So did I. And if anyone should be ashamed of that, it should be me. It _is_ me."

She finally looked directly at him. "What? Why?"

"I've never hurt a woman in my life, Maia. _Never_."

"You still haven't."

"Come, now. I have eyes, don't I?" There were bruises on the insides of her thighs and on her arms, and a longer, darker strip across her stomach where he'd driven her into the desk over and over.

"I've stubbed my toe worse."

"On what? A battleship? I shouldn't have let this happen. It's not going to happen again."

"She said to come back. I heard her."

"So did I. But it's done."

She shook her head, eyes urgent now. "It's all over if we don't."

"I think we've made a horrible mistake about that, Maia. I'd give anything to be able to take today back, but at least we won't have to repeat it. Do something for me?"

"Anything you want. Don't you know that?"

"Well. Two things then. First, put any idea of that happening again out of your mind. Promise me."

She nodded.

"No. Say it."

"I promise."

"Good. Second, answer a question for me. Why are you so put off by gentle handling?"

"I'm not - "

"You are. You allow it because I want it, not because you do. You've not once come to me looking for it." It was like a switch flipping on in his brain. "You want me to be _rougher_ with you when you come to me for it. You've been using me to punish yourself for...for what? Wanting me? Oh Christ, Maia."

"No. No, it isn't _like_ that."

"What is it like, then? Tell me."

All she could do was shake her head. She didn't know what to say.

"_Do_ you like it that way? Tell me the truth. Have I been doing a terrible thing to you all this time?"

"No. Magnus, _no_." She took a deep breath and tried to get things to make sense before she said any more. It didn't work. "You want me, I know it when you're like that. It makes it easier."

"Makes what easier?"

She shook her head again, flustered and grasping at words to explain it. "I don't know. Wanting you the way I do. Being the thing I am. If you can't control yourself, that means it doesn't matter, at least until you're done."

She had an odd idea of what being unable to control himself meant, he thought. But they could deal with that later. She was on the edge of something he didn't entirely understand, and the ground under her was crumbling. He intended to pull her back before it became a matter of catching her fall. "Lie down. Here beside me."

She shook her head, eyes narrowed.

"Do you mean it when you say you'll do whatever I ask? Or are you playing at it?"

She settled down next to him, slowly and warily. She looked ready to leap up and bolt for the door at any provocation. He rested his hand gently on her midsection, just below her breasts; he could feel muscles tensing and leaping. "You're frightened of me, flower? Dixie's managed to set us back all this way in less than an hour? Something else she owes me for, then."

"Whatever you're about to do, don't. Please don't."

"You know what, or you wouldn't be asking me to stop. Quiet, now." He bent and kissed her, gently and thoroughly, his hand still resting on her - not holding her down, but letting her know he could and would if she made him do it. The thought he might have to actually force her to accept tenderness made his brain hurt. But he would if it came to that. She needed him to.

He kissed her with gentle insistence until she responded. It was like kissing someone asleep at first, but she eventually rose to it with a soft, whimpered protest. He shushed her softly, then went on kissing her as he stretched out beside her. She tensed as if she meant to bolt again, but he shook his head and tapped his fingertips on her stomach: _Still here. No moving._

He wasn't sure how long he stayed there, kissing her and nothing more. A half hour, maybe. Long enough for things to be stirring to points south again, he did know that. This was going to be very good.

He was waiting for it, and she didn't disappoint: When he broke the kiss for the fourth or fifth time, she reached for his belt and began tugging it open. He grabbed her hands and put them at her sides. "No. I'll tell you when I want you to do something."

She was less difficult about keeping still once she caught the pattern he established: Each time she tried to advance things ahead of his pace, he went back to kissing her and doing nothing else. Eventually she gave in to how he wanted to do this; it was none too soon. His body was raging for her, but he still had every intention of lingering over it.

He went back to kissing twice as he undressed her: Once for trying to help, and once for going after his clothes. She watched avidly as he stood and undressed himself, then stretched out beside her again.

"I want to touch you. Please let me, please?"

He couldn't refuse her any longer. He turned onto his back and let her do as she wished.

He was surprised when she avoided the obvious; he was hard and she was eager for it, but she started by running her fingers through his hair, then her palms over his face and on down his body, slowly and exploratively. It felt lovely, like a massage but with no real pressure or force behind it. By the time she'd ranged over his shoulders, down his arms, and back up to his chest, he was lying there with his eyes closed, simply enjoying the contact.

"You didn't hurt me, Magnus." Her voice was barely a whisper and her hands never paused on their journey down him. "Don't let that eat at you. I couldn't stand that. It was good. What you do to me...no one's ever done that. I need it. I need _you_."

If she planned to make her way clear to his feet, he was going to ruin her plans. He couldn't wait any longer. He grabbed her, turning and tucking her under him in a smooth motion. "You'll learn to need this too, flower. I'm going to enjoy teaching you."

He went into her gently, as slowly as he could bear; the feeling of her gradually giving way, opening to him, welcoming him, was exquisite. He could feel her breathing quicken as he sheathed himself fully in her. She shivered and arched to him as he started moving in her as slowly and easily as he was able.

"You feel so fucking good around me, woman. You like it like this, don't you? You want it."

"Yes, baby, yes." He was certain it was the first endearment she'd ever used to him. There was mostly amazement in her eyes now, which really was lovely stuff for his ego.

That made it all the more startling when she burst into tears mid-orgasm. Something had torn free in her; he had no idea what. He waited through it, stroking her hair and saying all the silly pet names and soothing murmurs that would have frozen her before. When she was quiet beneath him again, he went to work, still as gently as he could manage, to make her come again. It didn't take long, and there were no tears this time, but she trembled like an aspen leaf beneath him, clinging to his shoulders as he brought her to a third.

When she started not just clinging, but pulling him down, he knew she'd had all she could take. He'd nearly reached that point, too. The urge to just plunge into her and finish it was building; better to end it before that need became ungovernable. When she rose to him again, he let go the control he'd been keeping on himself, and let the pulsations deep inside her end it for him, as well.

She was talking as he finished, under her breath and between gasps. He couldn't make out anything she said, and he doubted she was actually taking to him, or even aware she was talking at all. He liked it; it was proof that she liked it this way well enough to seek it out from him eventually. He looked forward to that.

"I love you."

Well, that was audible, if just barely. But it was wrong to call her on it, as much as he wanted to. She surely had no idea she'd said it out loud, or that he'd heard. For now, it would just have to be his own to keep.


	6. Chapter 6

Magnus managed to buy a week with the most baldly simple of excuses: He told Dixie that Maia had flu. Maia, for her part, spent much of the week dramatically mock-coughing at him with an energy worthy of a case of consumption straight from the 18th century.

Her skewed sense of humor had come roaring back, and it had brought company along. She was more at ease with affection now, and less likely to assume it would end in sex every time. He would never have thought it possible, but he actually preferred being able to give her a kiss without her thinking that was the Blowjob Signal.

He still had questions, a dozen of them at least, but they could wait. He was enjoying this new peacefulness in her too much to disrupt it, and it was going to be disrupted sooner rather than later, anyway. An extra week, after all, was all he'd managed to buy them.

_Are you going to let me talk to her if I call? _

Joe. Well, of course. So much for peacefulness. _Thought of more hateful things to call her, have you?_

_I want to tell her I'm sorry._

_Are you?_

_Yeah. Whatever I think of you, it doesn't have anything to do with who she is._

Well, bravo for that. _Give it a few minutes. She's asleep. If she wants to talk to you, she will. There's no letting her involved._

_Wish I believed that._

So did he, but there was nothing for it. If Joe ruined the mood she was in, he wasn't going to be a happy man. He didn't want to wake Maia to start with; he was more than content to lie here watching Six Nations recaps with her soundly asleep and using him as a body pillow, head on his stomach, breasts nuzzled sweetly up against his cock. When she woke from a sleep this way, it usually ended up very pleasantly for him, and hell, he liked it just for what it was. Joe's timing could use work.

She stirred to his hand in her hair and came up smiling. "All done with outdoor sports?"

"Indoor sports will have to wait a bit, flower. Joe wants to talk to you."

"Oh. Uhm..."

"He seems to be feeling badly about some things."

"Will it bother you if I talk to him?"

"Not at all."

"And if I don't, he'll say you wouldn't let me."

"Very likely." There didn't seem to be any use in telling her he already had. "I'll survive that. Don't talk to him if you don't want to."

She picked up the phone when it rang and took it out on the balcony. For the next ten minutes, Magnus tried to piece together half a conversation from gesture and expression alone. She didn't seem upset. Insistent a couple of times, yes, but otherwise all right. She wasn't exactly happy when she came in, though.

"I've been forgiven. Isn't that peachy? I'm the human embodiment of evil, but they're willing to let that slide."

"If you go home immediately, of course."

"Naturally. Interested in taking a slightly grumpy woman's clothes off?"

"Always."

* * *

He'd actually spent some of their week's grace thinking. The conclusion always came out the same: It was time to face this thing down. The problem was, everything felt wrong from the moment they walked into Dixie's office.

He'd strongly considered leaving Maia at the hotel, but that looked too much like fear. Showing weakness while telling the boss what was and wasn't going to happen from now on didn't seem like a good strategy. He was wondering now if that was an enormous mistake. He kept himself between Dixie and Maia, and nothing at all between Maia and the door.

"It's done. She's mine, and I'm not so good at sharing."

"Oh? You're going to have to _get_ good at it, Magnus. Very soon. Now, in fact." Dixie had been speaking calmly, even coolly, but she raised her voice suddenly. "Gentlemen?"

A connecting door opened and five men walked in, led by Ethan.

"He changed his mind. I told you he would. Change it back. Then he can watch how well you all share if he still doesn't want to play along."

The men rushed him. He pushed Maia toward the door. "_Run_." He had a moment to be grateful he'd given her the car keys; she hesitated, eyes stricken, but finally bolted out the door. He squared up to keep them away from it as long as he could.

* * *

Magnus opened his eyes slowly, not sure he wanted to know what he'd see.

A dimly-lit room. A ceiling. And a few seconds later, Maia's worried face. "You were about ten minutes away from an ambulance and a big scene, mister, you know that? I can still call one..."

He tested carefully and systematically. Everything moved. It all hurt, but it moved. "No. I'll be fine. I wouldn't mind a vat of paracetamol to fall into, though. What's happened? Where are we?"

"The hotel. It's all right, they're gone. Lay still."

"How is it I'm here, exactly?"

"I drove you."

"You didn't leave? For fucksake, Maia."

"I sat in the car. There were people all over the place. All I could think was if you got away, it was a hell of a long run back here."

"I don't remember getting away."

"You didn't. They...brought you out and dumped you on the ground in front of the car." He could hear a struggle for control in her voice; she won it. "I thought you were dead. They started surrounding the car, so I laid on the horn." She laughed; it was a jagged, bitter sound he'd never heard from her before. "No one came. They just stood there and gawked. All but one homeless guy with a dog and a big stick. They took off and he helped me get you in the car. I...kind of dumped your wallet all over him."

"He'd have been welcome to one of my kidneys if he'd wanted it. Foolish girl. Come here."

It was awkward to hold her, and fairly painful, too, but he didn't care. "And how does that clever mind of yours say our game stands?"

"It's over."

"It may not be. She doesn't have to make the leap from my defending you to my having lied about everything else. Put that lovely brain of yours to work. Tell me."

He'd seen her do it a handful of times already, but it was still astonishing. She just dialed herself out of everything outside and went in looking for a solution. He wondered every time what she saw in there.

"I don't know. I just don't. Every direction I look, I see yes, she knows."

"But you still doubt it."

"I'm so bad at the people stuff," she said despairingly. "I'm about an inch from useless for this."

"We need every inch we can get right now. Call it."

"She knows. Our best bet is to come clean. On TV. The more people who know, the better covered we are."

"The world is watching, hmm? It might work. All assuming I can get in the tapings at all."

"Assuming _we_ can."

"Maia..."

"All they have to do is say I don't exist. That's a little harder if I'm standing right there. And I'm not thrilled at the idea of being away from you."

He nodded. The idea didn't thrill him, either. Neither did bringing her back into the lion's den, but he didn't see a third option at hand, and if she did, she wasn't saying so.


	7. Chapter 7

The locker room was a no-brainer. Maia couldn't go in there with him, and he wasn't about to leave her alone. They'd gotten in the building a bit too easily for his taste, almost as if someone wanted them to be there.

They'd forgotten one thing in all their planning: _Everyone_ in the building worked for Dixie. When it happened, it was so quick that he didn't realize what was happening until it was over. Someone stopped him in the hallway, someone else wheeled an enormous lighting crate between them, and by the time he realized that what he was smelling was chloroform, Maia was gone. They'd left a note on the floor.

_Aunt D. says there's no time for what you messed up. There's always later. She must be prime for you to take an ass-kicking like you got. Wait. You'll know when we want you._

He waited. There was nothing else to be done.

They didn't make him wait long. Fifteen minutes into the taping, they dragged Maia out to the ring. The same five; their faces were engraved on his memory. They looked a bit surprised by the wildcat they had by the whiskers, but she wasn't going to get away on her own, try as she was. Right behind them, microphone in hand, was Dixie.

He could hear Tenay and Taz going berserk. They had plenty of reason to, not the least having no idea who Maia was or what they were doing with her. She'd managed to stay off-camera her entire time with MEM. The crowd was buzzing; he could see people asking one another what the hell was going on.

He was already on his way out when Dixie yelled for him to show his face. He froze as he passed a monitor in the hallway. Several other wrestlers were clustered around it, staring between him and what was going on in the ring. He paid them no mind; he was watching Ethan gleefully yanking on Maia's hair, trying to get a scream from her. She wasn't giving him the pleasure. When Ethan decided to try twisting her arm behind her back instead, he gave up watching and ran for the entryway. He got halfway down the ramp before Dixie ordered him to stop.

He kept right on going. "What are you going to do, Dixie? In front of all these people? What will you have them do to her? Do keep in mind that what they do to her, I'm going to do to you."

He needed the crowd to be listening, not booing and chanting. A few camera-phones would be helpful, too. He had to get their attention, not to mention get them to shut their bloody mouths for a couple of minutes. He did it in the most efficient way he could think of: He took the title belt off his shoulder and threw it down on the mat.

That shut them all up: Dixie, goons, crowd, commentators, the lot.

"Let her go."

"Or what?" Ethan, naturally. Magnus found a tune maddeningly playing in his head. The bravery of being out of range...

"Or I'll kill the first one of you I get my hands on. And I'd love if it were you, sunshine. You're already losing a tooth for every time you tried to make her scream. Five, by my count."

"Seven. You missed a couple on your way out."

He didn't think he'd ever been so glad to hear Joe's voice. Or to be standing shoulder-to-shoulder with him. "Seven it is. Oh, and Ethan? I'm going to break your arm, as well. That, I didn't miss."

He expected none of this to ever make TV. But as Maia had cheerfully said when he pointed that out, "And God said, 'Let there be internet.'. She's going to catch even more hell if she makes the footage vanish." It was his last card. He played it.

"Is storytime what you want, Dixie? For all these people to hear what really makes you tick? Look around you. I'm sure YouTube would be glad for the business." He was delighted to see several more phones being raised. "And I do have a story to tell, don't I? What's it to be, then?"

"Let her go." It was more spat out than spoken. It sounded like a symphony to him nonetheless.

The goon squad released Maia; she all but leaped across the ring and into his arms. The crowd murmur rose several points up the scale, then several more when Joe ruffled her hair, then tucked her firmly behind them.

Magnus nodded toward the title belt, still on the mat between the two groups. "Take that with you. It's what you came for, isn't it? It means nothing to me your way. It never did. I'll have it back my way eventually." He didn't actually expect to have a job come morning, but it was hard to say. There were a lot of phones being held up out there. If he did go, he wouldn't be going quietly.

They were chanting his name now, quite a switch from the past couple of months. They wanted a fight, too. He'd have loved to oblige them, but there were priorities. He was still fairly banged up from his last encounter with this lot, they were still outnumbered, and Maia was still well in harm's way. He glanced at Joe and saw the same thing in his expression: _Not now._ They'd have their time.

They backed up, eyes never leaving their adversaries, until Maia was up against the ropes and could slip through. No one made the slightest move to stop them as they made their way backstage, though Dixie did order one of her laughing boys to pick up the title belt.

"Get her out of here. We'll talk later."

Magnus nodded. "We'll be changing hotels. Cities, if I can drive us that far. I'll call you."

"Quite a show, man. I'd sure like to hear that story you didn't tell."

Magnus and Joe both whipped around, their heads full of thoughts of gutting someone. MVP held up his hands. "Easy, guys. It's all good." He grinned at Magnus. "You are one fired son of a bitch. She's gonna rehire you so she can fire you twice. You come talk to me about that." He glanced at Maia, his smile more gentle now. "Did they hurt you, girl?"

"No."

"Good. And I'm guessing she can't fire you. She might do it anyway, just to make her feel better." He considered the three of them, then flipped Magnus a key-card. "Tell you what, I want to talk to the three of you tomorrow. You put up in my suite. Nobody's going to bother you there. There's the tools for a party, too. I'm thinking you probably earned one."

A party, maybe not, Magnus thought. But a drink and a very comfortable chair to enjoy it in would go quite nicely just now. Tomorrow was looking like it just might take care of itself.


	8. Chapter 8

Chair found and settled into, Magnus was reluctant to get up and make himself the drink to complete the picture. The suite was impressive, and the chair as comfortable as he could have wanted. He smiled when Maia brought him the missing drink. Picture completed.

Joe wasn't smiling. Probably, he thought, because she knew what drink to bring without having to ask.

He thought it best to let her decide how to play this; she knew Joe better, after all. He was pleased when she sat on a wide, padded arm of the chair, and even more so when he saw she'd chosen the side on his free hand; she wasn't going to play innocent or be ashamed. He slid his arm around her, his hand snugged into the curve of her hip. Never mind; now the picture was completed.

Joe gave them both an _All right, have it your way_ look and dropped onto the couch on the other side of what looked like a fairly expensive area rug. "I'd like to hear this story you didn't tell, too."

Magnus and Maia exchanged a look Joe had no trouble interpreting: _Oh, shit._

"Another time, I think." Magnus really wasn't keen to recount the whole thing with Maia there having to hear it. He also wanted a chance to make some creative amendments. Like not having to start with _Well, it all began one night when I tried to drive your cousin here through a shower wall with my cock_, for example. Unfortunately, Joe did need to know at some point; it was one thing for him to understand their boss was power-mad. He also needed to know how dangerous she truly could be.

"No, man, how about _this_ time?"

Joe wasn't going to be put off; he couldn't really blame the man. Magnus got up and led Maia to the other side of the suite.

"Why don't you take a nice, long bath? The tub looked fairly impressive. Put on some music. Lounge about for a bit."

"Are you sure you want to do this yourself? I can deal with it."

"You shouldn't have to. Go on, now. It'll be fine."

She peeked into the bathroom. "Whoa. That's a little more than fairly impressive." A look crossed her face that he tended to very much enjoy seeing. "Sure you don't want to explore its possibilities with me instead?"

"I'd love to." It was on his to-do list, in fact, if they managed to find time enough alone. Water did seem to do things to her libido. "But not now."

"Spoilsport." She wiggled up companionably against him and turned her face up for a kiss. That, there was definitely time for.

He waited until he heard water running before he went back, stopping to hook Joe a beer out of the fridge. "You're going to want this before we're through."

"So, how long _has_ this been going on?" Joe pointed. It was like a hotel law; there was a full-length mirror opposite the bathroom door.

"About a week _after_ you walked in on us. She was never unwilling, Joe. Not the first time, not any time."

"Yeah, she didn't look like you were twisting her arm over there."

"What I have with her isn't about this. It got tangled up in it, but it was never part."

Joe nodded. "Is there something she doesn't know? That you don't want her to?"

"No. I don't think she needs to hear it recounted in detail, though. I'm not sure you do, either."

Joe popped the cap of the beer and took a drink. "That bad?"

"It is, yes."

Maia had apparently found the music controls. And chosen The Clash as music to lounge by. He smiled. There was no helping it. It didn't last long, though.

He told it. It was a two-drink tale, and Joe was into his third beer before he was through. He left out a few things the man really didn't need to know, but there was no way to gloss over what happened in Dixie's office, either time. That, he did need to know. He trimmed a few details, but that was all.

Joe sat for nearly a minute in silence. "You two have been going through this alone for two months. Why the _fuck_ didn't you come to me for help? Or someone else? Anyone?"

"What help? What could anyone have done?"

"Stopped that ass-kicking you took, maybe. I wondered why you looked like somebody backed a truck over you. A lot of us did."

"They'll pay for that. And for what they would have done. If I have to wait in an alley for them, they will."

"Oh, yeah. They're gonna pay both of us, believe that. What do you have in mind next?"

"In the immediate future, pulling Maia out of that tub before she falls asleep and drowns. That thing is about the size of a bus. Anything much further in the future I'll have to wait on. At least until I know if I still have a job or not. It would be a riot if the final act of this farce is my being deported for being unemployed, wouldn't it?"

"I don't think that's going to happen. We're here, aren't we?"

"There is that. Tomorrow should prove interesting, at any rate." He stood up. "It's been a long night, Joe."

"Yeah, and you're going right to sleep, aren't you? Listen, I'm going to say it and we don't have to keep hacking on it: Be good to her and we don't have a problem."

"Then we'll not have one."

Maia wasn't asleep in the tub, but she was looking a bit dozy; it hadn't been an easy night for her, either. "Up and out, flower. Bed awaits. And if it's half as decadent as this tub, it'll still be twice as much as any we've had."

She got out and stepped into the towel he held out; it was big enough to wrap around her twice and warm from a heater in the rack. "Uhmm, this could really become the style to which I'm accustomed. Grab another one; I'm going to have to sleep in it."

"Why not just throw it on the floor now and save time?"

"Letch."

"I'm only what you've made of me, flower."

Joe had discreetly taken a bedroom across the suite, but they still whispered.

"Slow, baby. I want it like that. Nice and slow."

"You know, this is the first time you've asked for that."

"Mmm, I hope you're taking requests this evening."

He was.


	9. Chapter 9

"No, man. I'll go get them. Just give me something to blind myself with first."

Magnus laughed. "We're awake, Joe. And covered. We'll be out shortly."

He was ready in about three minutes: Dress, run a hand through his close-cropped hair, call it done.

Maia fussed for a few minutes, then sighed. "Yesterday's clothes, sex hair, and no toothbrush," she said, looking bleakly into the mirror. "Looking sharp and ready to face the world."

"I see no problem with how you look, flower."

She smiled and leaned back into him. "That's because you're responsible for it. Ready for this?"

"I wanted to talk to you last night about what happens if I well and truly am fired."

Maia shook her head firmly. "Not gonna happen, big guy. I've got to have faith in something; that's it." She fussed with her hair one last time. "Come on, let's go show everybody what we've been up to."

Joe gave them a wry look; MVP just smiled. "Morning. Welcome to the wonderful world of the unemployed."

Magnus groaned; it really wasn't any less than he was expecting, but it still rankled. He'd never been sacked in his life. He squeezed Maia's hand. "What was it you said you had faith in, flower?"

"Him." She nodded toward MVP. "You aren't really going to let this happen, are you?"

"Now how could I ruin a pretty girl's faith in me? I have a new contract right here." He dug through a briefcase and handed the contract to Magnus. "I want to keep you right here, man. So does the group backing me. I think you're going to like what you see. You take your time, look it over. I kind of think it's going to be a while before you trust management again, isn't it?"

He turned to Joe. "She didn't fire you. Doubt she could find enough of an excuse to do it, even as bullshit a one as she fired Magnus for."

"What _was_ her given reason?" It didn't matter, really; he was curious.

"Breach of contract. I'm still not sure what you were supposed to have breached, so you can probably fight it if you want to." He smiled. "Don't think you will. Now, then..." He turned to Maia. "I see I was right; she can't fire you. Bet she'd love to, though." A look like he might be developing a headache crossed his face. "I hate to have to ask you this, but how old are you?"

"23. Why?"

"Dixie's been kind of dropping it around that you're 16."

Magnus just started cursing, serenely and with a variety none of them would have expected. Maia said something that he mostly drowned out; Joe was pretty sure the word _cunt_ was involved in it somewhere.

"Yeah, she doesn't like you, man, not even a little. You make sure your work visa is right and tight. You got some ID, girl?"

Maia nodded, then burrowed in her purse for her license. She handed it to MVP, who glanced at it and handed it back. "Not for me so much, even if it's good to know. That little card's going to stop her yapping faster than anything else will. Now, what should we do about _your_ life among the unemployed."

"Nothing." Magnus' voice was dead flat. "She's been in this deeply enough as it is."

Joe nodded. "No need for it. You ought to be going home, anyway, Maia."

She just waited. "You two Neanderthals done now? Come one, come all, watch the boob-having human think for herself." She saw a smile twitch at the corners of MVP's mouth. "I'm not going home. And I'm not signing a contract. I never wanted that. If those jerks hadn't dragged me out there by the hair, no one would still know I exist. I'd have liked it better that way."

"They know now, or they want to, anyway. You're all the talk this morning, girl. If you don't want to sign, you don't, even if I'd like to have you on board. But you should consider a sit-down with Tenay even if you don't. You can shut up all the talk about your age right there, and it's your best chance to say what _you_ want to say about all this. You've got to have a few things on your mind."

"One or two. But that...I don't know. I wouldn't have to sign a contract to do it?"

"There's a standard one-night contract for guests you'd have to sign. About all it would hold you to is doing the interview and not just sitting there cussing your lungs out the whole time. I'd still rather see you with a long-term one."

"_Why?_ I can't wrestle. Last night was the first time I've ever been within 50 feet of a ring. I don't want to be on TV. Put a microphone in my face and I'll probably sit there and stare at it with my mouth hanging open. A contract to do what?"

"Manager. Consultant. His personal hairdresser, if you want." MVP looked at her, considering. "I think you're playing straight with me, so I'm going to with you. There is a _lot_ of interest in you out there. A lot more than you seem to realize." He saw Joe dig out his phone. "Start with YouTube. Then Twitter. You're going to get offers," he said, turning back to Maia. "I'd like to lock you up before that."

"I don't want offers."

"You might be the only person in this business who ever said that and meant it."

"Shit, you two are on YouTube 247 times. Aww, you've even got your own tribute music video already."

"Does the song not stink on ice?" Magnus sounded as amused as Maia looked appalled.

"Sorry, man. It's pretty bad. Nice editing work, though, considering they have about a minute and a half of footage to work with for a four-minute song." Joe moved on to Twitter and decided in about 20 seconds that he was going to do his best to keep Maia from seeing it. She needed delusional 14-year-old girls threatening to kill her about as much as she needed...well, delusional 14-year-old boys talking about her 'tittays'. She did have a point about staying as anonymous as she could.

"See? We'd like all that curiosity working for us, not for anyone else. The same for you."

"I'm not _going_ to work for anyone else. Or for you, I'm sorry. The interview...maybe. I need to think about it. But if I do, I'll never want to see my own face on TV again after that."

"Thought maybe you'd see it that way." He nodded to Magnus. "There's a clause in that contract that allows you to bring along a management consultant, the travel's on our ticket. You two will have to work out salary." He smiled at Maia. "He signs it, he'll be able to afford one." He stood up, hand out for handshakes all around. "I'm thinking you all want some breakfast. Order some up. You're paid up here until noon tomorrow, too. Think about that interview, yeah? Tenay's not going to hold you over the fire or anything."

He'd been gone ten minutes before it dawned on Magnus: MVP hadn't asked what he'd been braced to be asked.

"He probably went and found out for himself," Joe said. "You know he's got good sources."

"A bit too good?"

"You _are_ going to be edgy around the front office for a while, aren't you? He's all right, man."

"Maybe so." Magnus flicked a glance toward the bathroom, where Maia was going to work on her hair with water and a comb she'd rooted out of a drawer somewhere. "And maybe not. I'd rather they not have anything to hold over her, regardless."

"I'm with you on that." Joe reached for the phone. "He's right about one thing; it's time for breakfast. Left side of the menu?"

"Yes." Magnus smiled, then got up and wandered over to look in on Maia. She was looking much less glum about the condition of her hair. He resisted the urge to plunge both hands in and set it to disarray again; he rather liked it that way. "Breakfast is on its way." He ringed his arms around her waist. "I shouldn't have spoken for you. Boob-having though you most certainly are."

"It's okay. As long as we're on the same page about stuff, anyway." She leaned back into him. "This interview thing...what about that?"

"It might not be so terrible an idea, flower. If you satisfy enough of people's curiosity, the rest only dissolves more quickly. And the sooner this uproar about your age goes away, the better. I'll be with you. Tenay will behave, or he'll answer to me for it."

She nodded. "Tell him I said yes, then. What about you? He was dangling some pretty big hints about that contract."

"I'll read it after breakfast. At the moment, I'd be entirely too tempted to salt it and eat it."


	10. Chapter 10

Magnus smiled as he watched the wardrobe horde work Maia over. She sat ramrod-straight in the chair while they redid her makeup. She sighed and put up with it when the hairdresser clucked over her ponytail, then promptly took it down and brushed her hair out until it shone. But when they marched in a rack of clothes, she lost her religion.

"Okay, you know what? Fine: I'm not so good with makeup. And apparently I don't know how to brush my own hair, either. But my parents _did_ teach me how to dress myself. Buttons, even. No. No clothes that aren't mine. And sure as hell not Hooker Couture."

Magnus was laughing so hard he was starting to wonder if they'd have a change of clothes handy for him if he needed it. But he did agree with her, actually. They'd used a light hand with the makeup, and her hair was a mass of crackling waves across her shoulders. Hot pants and a bustiere weren't going to make her look any more like he'd just finished having her bent over some convenient piece of furniture. Which he wouldn't have minded doing, if there were only time.

"Thank you, ladies; I think she's full up with being primped and preened for today." He shooed them out politely but firmly and shut the door behind them. And locked it. "Come here, flower." He held his arms out; she stepped into them gratefully. It had already been a long day, and they hadn't gotten anywhere near camera and mics yet.

That part got started 15 minutes later, with Maia sitting beside him looking at Tenay like the reincarnation of the Grand Inquisitor. Magnus had already had a chat with Tenay about exactly how polite all this was going to be.

"I have been receiving an extraordinary number of emails during the past week," Tenay began, "all making the same request: Get Magnus to sit down and answer some questions about his actions on the most recent episode of Impact...and about the woman who apparently inspired them. After considerable negotiation, I'm going to go one better: I have both of them here with me at this time."

_As opposed to some other time?_ Magnus thought, stifling a smile.

"I'd like to begin with you, Magnus, if I may. First of all, are you currently still employed with TNA?"

"I am, but I wasn't for a few hours after last week's show went off the air."

"Dixie Carter fired you?"

"She did. The investors' group headed by MVP rehired me - on considerably more generous terms, I might add."

"As I've been led to understand by MVP himself, you've been acting as something of a double agent for the past few months. Would you elaborate on that, please?"

"I could see as well as anyone that Dixie Carter has let power go to her head. She's made TNA a playground for her relatives and her minions. I've enjoyed working for this company, but that was rapidly changing. I decided to do something about it. I don't have the kind of money it takes to follow the route MVP is, so I had to take a more...physically direct route."

"So you positioned yourself to be Dixie Carter's chosen champion..."

"And I watched. And listened. And where I could without coming too far out of cover, I created disorder."

"And you did this alone, without the knowledge of any of your friends and co-workers?"

"I did. They say if three have a secret, it's a secret no longer. I thought keeping it to one would be safer still. I managed that right up until Maia here strolled in and informed me that she'd sorted out the whole thing and knew exactly what I was doing." It wasn't exactly what had happened, of course, but they'd agreed it was best if the true chain of events never saw the light of day.

"Which brings us to you, Maia - if I can call you that."

_Beats the hell out of calling me Fred._ "That's fine."

"What has your role in all this been?"

"Moral support, mostly."

"I'll cut to the chase then: If you would, characterize your relationship with Magnus."

She pondered for a few moments. "Very friendly."

Magnus smiled, likely the first genuine one anyone watching would have seen on his face in months. "And occasionally stark naked."

Maia blushed; he was fairly certain it went all the way to her toes. "That, too."

"My apologies, but that brings us to another question that's been making the rounds this week. There are rumors, Maia, that you're underage."

"Started and spread entirely by Dixie Carter," Magnus said dryly.

"This is your opportunity to put those rumors to rest."

"I'm 23." As she had with MVP, she handed Tenay her driver's license.

He looked at it; she could see him doing mental math. He nodded. "If you'd permit me to show this to the camera, that should put an end to the questions."

Maia nodded. "I'd appreciate if you'd cover up my address first."

Tenay put his thumb over those lines and held the card up to the camera for several seconds, then handed it back. "If Dixie Carter is indeed responsible for the rumors, why do you believe she would start them? Revenge?"

Magnus nodded. "And the added pleasure of watching me have to address them with Immigration. Which, fortunately, hasn't been an issue."

"I'd like to address specifically what happened last week. Magnus, you intimated that you had some information about Dixie Carter that she wouldn't want made public. And in fact, just a threat to tell was enough to make her release Maia. What is that information."

Magnus shook his head. "I keep my bargains. And my leverage. She got the title belt back, I got Maia back, and that's the end of it so long as no one puts hands on her again. Or nearly the end."

"Nearly?"

Magnus felt Maia's hand slip into his. He squeezed it gently. "Ethan Carter fancies himself a sadist, it seems. He's not good at it; I am. Ethan, you'll learn how to make someone scream in pain. I'm going to show you first-hand. You'll scream ten times as much as you tried to make her do."

Tenay's eyes widened, but he seemed to think better of saying anything about that. "Ah...Maia, will we be seeing more of you now that you've made your début, unplanned as it was?"

"I don't plan on it, no."

Tenay looked surprised. "My sources say that MVP has been courting you to sign with TNA."

"He asked, and I'm flattered, but no. It was never what my being here was about, and it still isn't."

"Fair enough. One last question, and I think we'll have covered everything I've been fielding by email and Twitter this week: What is Samoa Joe's interest in this situation? What would bring him out there as he was?"

"He's my friend, in spite of this few months of poor communication," Magnus said. "He's also Maia's cousin. He'll have a few things to say about how she was treated, as well. You can count on that."

* * *

The interview aired with what at first seemed to be no major ripples. Joe gleefully announced to them that Twitter's mass verdict was that they were "SOOOOOOO cute!" and that she must be Joe's cousin by marriage. The cameras also caught and lingered on their holding hands at the end, which got another blush from Maia.

The complication hit about a week later. Tenay hadn't covered her last name, or the enormous state name at the top of her license. It was enough for the internet detectives to come up with her address, which they gleefully spread across at least a dozen message boards, usually with a message suggesting everyone drop by and ask her what Magnus was like in the sack.

It didn't take long for her landlord to start grumbling about her lease not covering the hassles, let alone the repeated calls to the police to remove people hanging around her door. She glumly started apartment-hunting over the internet. "It should be fun," she told Magnus glumly. "I've never had to move under armed guard before."

"Or you could move in with me and not have to worry about it."

She stared at him, a visual definition for _flabbergasted_. "Did you just...?"

"Ask you to live in sin with me? Absolutely. It's not as if we get much time off the road, but I'd rather spend it together than not. Wouldn't you?"

She nodded, still wide-eyed, then suddenly flung herself at him. He caught her just as she knew he would.


End file.
